Identity Formation

Welcome in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came into this enslaved world of oppression, exploitation, and sin, and who took upon himself all the brokenness, alienation, fear, hopelessness, estrangement, frustration, rebellion and sorrow that plagued God’s good creation, and he put it to death when he died on the cross. God raised him from the dead and now Jesus sits on the throne of the universe as King Jesus. He sent His Spirit to us so that Jesus is now present with us as King, and we gather together tonight as the Kingdom of God by the power of the Spirit.

And the signs of God’s Kingdom are all around us – it’s just that we need discernment to see them; we need Kingdom eyes and ears, Kingdom senses. Just as God’s people missed God when he showed up in Jesus, we can often be looking for the wrong thing. We want to be entertained, we want to be part of something interesting, powerful, something that will burnish our image or improve our social standing, something that will make us look good in the eyes of others.

We’ll miss it unless we have a Kingdom imagination. The Kingdom of God sounds like warm words of welcome, songs of lament and songs of praise, small kids banging around and probably being a bit too loud. The Kingdom is people enjoying a meal together, sharing a conversation together—maybe brief, maybe very involved. It looks like people strategizing to meet needs. People sharing their griefs, their sorrows, their joys.

It looks and sounds like a group of people who share life together and receive life from God as a good gift and give thanks together in the name of Jesus.

So you’re welcome this evening to Midtown, and we are all welcomed by King Jesus, to enjoy his goodness together.